We accepted IPPIS against UTAS as temporary measure -ASUU

The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) says its acceptance of the Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System (IPPIS) as against the union’s preferred University Transparency and Accountability Solution (UTAS) was temporary.

Emmanuel Osodeke, the ASUU president, who stated this at a meeting with the speaker of the House of Representatives and other federal agencies in Abuja on Monday, said ASUU called off its eight-month-old strike on trust.

According to Osodeke, ASUU’s agreement to the IPPIS was basically an interim measure, pending when a formal deal would be reached with the Federal Government.

“We didn’t reach full understanding before we called off the strike because we did that on trust. We have not really signed any documents that address all the issues but since we are talking about this now, I think, it will be a small thing we could sit down between you and us as we did the last time and reach a conclusion.

“What we agreed on the issue of UTAS and IPPIS is a temporary measure because for a country like Nigeria, if we are really patriotic and we love this country; if there is a problem in payment, you challenge your university to develop a programme for you. So, this idea that others will bring their own is not true. We were challenged to produce it. We feel sad that we had spent our money, time and resources to produce what we were challenged to produce by the minister of labour in 2020.

“We have agreed on IPPIS as an interim measure. Subsequently, we will look for how to solve this problem once and for all. IPPIS has not solved any problem. It has created more problems. If you want to challenge us, check the wage bill before IPPIS was introduced and check the wage bill now. We are willing and have set up our team. Anything you are willing, we will be willing to meet as an interim measure because it will not solve the problem.”

However, in his intervention, Femi Gbajabimila, speaker of the House, who said the meeting was called to follow up on the issues discussed with the union, faulted the claims of the ASUU president, saying an agreement was reached which was not on a temporary basis.

Read also: ASUU strike, future of education and student loan

Gbajabimila also dismissed some feelings in some quarters that the series of meetings held did not achieve any useful results.

He said: “We are here as an institution to make sure that whatever that is agreed is implemented as best as possible. The main issue for discussion today, which was one of the major areas of conflict, was the issue of payment platform, whether or not it has to deal with the issue of UTAS as opposed to IPPIS.

“If you recollect, we did agree that we will marry both; while IPPIS will remain the platform, the government will bring in the areas under UTAS that are specific to the universities and assimilate those areas into IPPIS. I believe that was what was agreed by both sides when we had the last two meetings. So, we want to make sure that that box is ticked and is not just an agreement on paper or for the purposes of just calling off the strike,” Gbajabiamila said.

On his part, Silvia Okoliaboh, the acting accountant-general of the federation, said the government will in the next three months sit down with ASUU and resolve all the peculiarities in the expected merger of UTAS into IPPIS, adding that a formal letter to that effect will be sent Tuesday, October 25.

The acting accountant general also allayed the fears of ASUU in the case of making updates on IPPIS, saying it was a credible payment platform that has worked for years.